


The Face in the Holopuck

by LoungingLux33



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Childhood Friends, Childhood Sweethearts, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Mandalorian Clans (Star Wars), Mandalorians (Star Wars), Separate Childhoods, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Spooning, The Mandalorian (TV) References, Touch-Starved, Touching, of course there's only one bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28419048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoungingLux33/pseuds/LoungingLux33
Summary: With the Empire fallen, the galaxy is in chaos. Mandalorian Din Djarin is just trying to get by, one bounty at a time. Until one day, he recognizes the face in the holopuck - and it changes everything.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter 1

The puck opens in the middle of the dark, dusty bar, and his heart skips a beat when a familiar face from his past materializes before him:

Lim Onterra. The blue-eyed girl he used to play with as a young boy on Aq Vetina, the daughter of his parents’ closest friends. The joke among the four adults was that they’d eventually marry and take over her parents’ farm. He’d blush and hide when the conversation turned to their future, but only because he didn’t want them to know he had already picked out a spot for their imaginary wedding: the top of the lone mountain that crowned the Luminous Plains of Mera, a spot he’d only seen in holos his mother had shown him, but one that he envisioned the two of them standing atop together every night when he closed his eyes.

Just thinking about it now, he’s grateful for his helmet. It hides the blush that blooms across his cheeks while Greef Karga explains the scenario.

She’s on the hook for half a million credits, stolen from Vinor Karrus, the mob leader based on the Minboe Station orbiting Sebeya. He can’t begin to imagine how the girl with the hearty laugh and auburn hair that he used to climb trees and race down hills with had gotten involved with someone like Karrus, but there she was, in the flesh - or, holo.

Nevertheless, he takes the job and sets the course for where her chain code has her last: the Veiled Wreck on Tryla. It’s a short journey, another thing he’s grateful for; to be alone with his memories of her for too long would only serve to cloud his judgement.

As he enters the atmosphere and looks for a landing pad, he steels himself for the inevitable disappointment he’ll feel when he finds her. People that associated with Karrus were generally… not the most above-level individuals. He shudders to think of why she’d steal from him.

The tracking fob leads him to another dark and dusty bar - of course. The galaxy seems to be filled with them, he thinks as he strides in and loses himself in the crowd. He briefly wonders if she’ll recognize him, then chides himself. She hasn’t seen him in more than 25 years, and with the helmet? How could she know?

Just as he convinces himself that she won’t know him, he’s pulled up short when he recognizes her instantly, as if he were drawn to her. Hood up and lost in her thoughts, seated at the bar in the far left corner, he only sees her in profile, but he knows her. He’d know her anywhere, on any planet, in any system.

This isn’t the way to approach a target, he realizes. He takes a moment and a deep breath. She’s not the same girl anymore, he tells himself. She’s a paycheck.

With ice in his veins and steel in his spine, he sidles up beside her and places the puck on the bar before her, activating it. The blue glow lights up her face and reveals her to him…

…and nearly takes his breath away.

She’s even more stunning than he remembers. The holo doesn’t capture the way her skin glows, or the way her eyes still have that sparkle they would get when they played holo chess in his parent’s home. But the bruise around one eye and the healing split lip tell another story.

Her reaction, however, surprises him. There is no nervous chatter, no denying the charge against her that the puck implies, no fighting or begging. Only a resigned sigh as she sits back on her stool and stares at her own face spinning slowly before her.

“Let me guess: you’re bringing me back to Vinor Karrus, right?” She asks, turning to face her new captor - and freezing for the briefest of moments when she sees a Mandalorian looking back at her. She has no love for their kind, he can tell.

He’s silent. Silence has always been his go-to when dealing with bounties, to avoid any drama. But this time it’s to protect himself from saying too much.

She recovers quickly and rises to her feet. “Right. Let’s get this over with, then.” She presents her wrists to him for the binders, shocking him. He briefly fumbles before securing them, and watches as she turns and heads for the door. Following her as if they were leaving after a date, he realizes: she’s done this before.

Once they’re outside, she pauses and extends her bound hands for him to lead the way, wrapped up in her cloak to ward off the chill in the air as they make their way back to his ship.

He turns to find her, just once, and wishes for a split second that the circumstances could be different - that they could just be another couple on this planet, one of the dozens of people they’re surrounded by on the streets as they make their way back to the landing pad where the Razor Crest waits. The loading bay doors open as they approach.

Up the ramp he leads her, when he realizes she’s stopped at the freezing station.

“Can I ask you one favor?”

He stops as she nods to the equipment: “Don’t freeze me in carbonite? It’s not that it hurts, it’s just... the sickness afterwards is the worst.”

He pauses for a moment - she’d been frozen before? What had she gotten into? He shakes the thought out of his head before climbing the ladder up to the cockpit without another word.

She dutifully takes her seat behind him, quiet resignation on her face as he sets the autopilot for Sebeya and they take off. Unfortunately for him, this trip will be much longer than the one he took to find her.

After what feels like an hour traveling through the blackness of space, It’s taking everything in his power to not clear his throat and let his discomfort out in some way. Just when he feels he may not be able to contain it any longer, he nearly jumps out of his skin when she speaks quietly behind him.

“Can I use the ‘fresher?”

His hands grip the throttle and he swallows the lump in his throat. “It’s down below.” He hopes she can’t hear the tension in his voice.

He never turns, only hears her descend into the bowels of the ship, then listens to the pounding of his heart in his ears while he waits for her to return. A short while later she returns and settles in, silent once more.

Another half hour passes before he’s unable to hold it in any longer. The words are out of his mouth before he can stop them. “This has happened before?”

He curses himself. How could he forget his only rule when it came to bounty hunting: no questions.

But she doesn’t know that. She just knows this is how it goes every time, and figures there’s no harm in explaining it yet again to another bounty hunter who doesn’t really care.

“It’s Vinor’s favorite game.”

He doesn’t turn, and doesn’t dare ask what she means, but hopes she takes his silence as an invitation to continue.

She does.

“I got caught up with Karrus when I was younger, when my planet was destroyed during the war between the Separatists and the Mandalorians. I fell into his web when I had nowhere else to turn, and became his favorite. Now, I can’t get away. Every time I manage to, he sends a bounty hunter to collect his moneymaker.”

He grips the throttle so hard that the leather of his gloves creak. He can’t help himself, but keeps his voice level when he replies, “That’s who gave you got those bruises?”

She scoffs. “The lip, yes. That was for talking back. The black eye is from his last client, who didn’t appreciate my lack of... interest in him.”

His ears are burning, his blood boiling with rage. “That’s not right.” It’s all he can manage without screaming.

She sighs, “Right, wrong, it doesn’t matter to your kind, does it? All that matters is the bounty. The truth doesn’t exist when there are credits to be earned, yeah?”

He takes in her words, his hands paused on the controls. How could he even begin to explain…

“I don’t have all day,” she finishes. ”The sooner you bring me in, the sooner he’ll sell me to the highest bidder for the night,” she says.

His head spins. He’s getting paid to bring her back into slavery. The girl he imagined wearing a white lace cape at the top of a mountain at sunset... it’s too much.

He checks the navigation: 6 more hours. He’ll also need fuel and provisions for the return trip home, but now that his wheels were spinning, he realizes he can make a pit stop at the Velli Spaceport on Emdara to buy them time and come up with a plan to get her out of trouble.

Emdara is only about 2 hours away, so he sets the autopilot and turns to look at her for the first time since they boarded. She’s defeated. It makes his stomach hurt.

“You’ll have to wait a bit longer,” he offers. “I need to stop at the Velli Spaceport.”

A cloud of confusion passes over her face. She settles back into her chair. “How long will we be there?” The hint of hope he hears in her voice tells him he did the right thing.

“As long as we need to be.”

Before he can see her stifle a smile, he gets up and heads down below to use the ‘fresher and grab a quick meal. He smiles the whole time.


	2. Chapter 2

The Velli Spaceport is a bustling hub on the rainforest planet of Emdara. They take a docking bay at the far edge of the city proper, near one of the planet’s many waterfalls. When they exit the ship, he gets a thrill from watching her take in the sights.

He leaves instructions with the mechanic, in the hope that he’ll return to a fully-fueled ship with a functional autopilot - but based on the looks of the Sullustan mechanic and their team of droids, he’ll be grateful if he comes back to a ship at all.

While they work, he heads into town for rations and provisions with Lim in tow. “I’m taking you with me on the honor system,” he explains as they pick their way through the crowd.

She doesn’t have to be told twice. “I don’t want to deal with hibernation sickness just as much as you don’t want to have to cart my frozen body around. You won’t have any problems from me, Mando.”

He smiles under the helmet - she still has the sense of humor he remembers from when they were kids.

Their trip is uneventful; if anything, it buys him some time to work on a plan to get her out of this situation. He considers reaching out to Karga for an assist, but what could he do? Without a plan in place, just reaching out to him could put them all at risk.

Waiting in the cantina for his packaged goods order, he catches a glimpse of her discreetly paying the tab of a nearby elderly woman. She brushes off his gaze when she realizes she’s been seen, and they move to their next stop.

Perhaps he could find a planet somewhere between here and Sebeya with the hope that it has a settlement he can stash her on for a while. But how long will that last?

While they stand at a workshop counter for a new set of tools that he pretends to need, just to buy them more time together, he even briefly considers a scenario where her death could be faked. But that would require more time than they have at the moment - and the sight of her hair in the sunset sends a pang of need through him.

That’s when he realizes that even if any of these plans work out, he still has a bigger problem:

He loves her.

Sure, every scenario ends with her safety. But whether he buys her a new identity or fakes her death or manages to pull off any of the other of the dozens of ideas that runs through his head throughout the day, every plan ends with him never seeing her again.

And after spending this day with her, remembering how kind and funny and incredible she is, he can’t fathom the idea of losing her again.

They return to the ship as the day ends on Emdara, taking back to the skies with a slightly improved autopilot, a restocked galley, a full fuel tank with reserves to spare, and some tools he really doesn’t need.

“Thank you,” she says, surprising him as he sets the course for Sebaya. 

He turns, and she continues, “For letting me walk around without binders on, and for being… decent. You’re not too bad for a Mandalorian,” she finishes with a smirk.

He asks the question already knowing the answer: “You know other Mandalorians?”

“I've seen them around. But the only other Mandalorians I’ve known brought a war to my home planet. Their fight with the Separatists destroyed everything on my planet. They killed my family, my friends… And those they didn’t kill, they kidnapped,” she says bitterly.

His breath catches in his throat. He feels dizzy.

“I lost…. everyone.” Her eyes are glassy, shrink-wrapped in tears.

“I’m sorry.” His voice is weak. He has nothing to offer that won’t give his identity away. His heart twists at her pain.

She brushes it off. “You Mandalorians - you never take off your helmet?”

He’s still reeling. “No.”

“What about sleeping, or eating,” she asks. “You _are_ a human under there, aren’t you?”

He bristles slightly at her accusatory tone, but sees a bit of the playful girl he remembers in her words. “I take it off to do those things, just not in front of other living things.”

She seems to consider his words. When she replies, he can feel her gaze burning through the beskar of his helmet, like she could see right through to his soul. “Sounds like a lonely life.”

For the second time today, he’s grateful for the cover the helmet provides. He can only rely on the creed to guide him, as it has nearly every day up to this point.

“This is the way.”

She’s unimpressed. After a beat, she looks out at space. He feels the need to fill the silence now.

“We've got a long journey ahead of us,” he tells her. “Sleep.”

“No thank you,” she replies. “I can’t sleep in space, the ships are too noisy.”

He focuses on the navigation once more, then is struck by an idea. Standing, he goes into storage at the back of the cockpit and finds an old headset. After ripping the frayed wires from the ends, he hands it to her.

“They don’t work but they‘ll block the noise.”

She looks at him with guarded gratitude. As he takes his spot once more, she puts them on and curls up against the window, wrapping her cloak around her a bit tighter. He feels a slight flutter in his chest at her reaction.

“Aren’t you going to sleep too?” her voice is softer now, more like how he remembers. It warms his body to hear it.

“I’ll rest later,” he reassures her. “You sleep now.”

“Thank you.”

Facing the viewport and the stars ahead of them, he closes his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

An incoming message from someone in the guild back on Nevarro stirs him from his light sleep in the pilot’s chair, and wakes Lim from a deep sleep behind him.

Another bounty has popped up on the water planet of Bandua, one that he can’t refuse - and it’s right on the way to Sebeya. High priority and big money, this could be the last job he takes before... well, he hasn’t thought it through entirely, but a paycheck this big would give him plenty of time to figure it out.

“Change of plans,” he announces as Lim stands and stretches.

“Is it Karrus?” she asks. The fear in her eyes stirs a rage deep inside him.

“No, another job, on the way to Sebaya. Should be quick, but I want you to stay on the ship for this one. It could get ugly.”

“Maybe I can help?” she asks, gamely. He smiles lightly behind the helmet at her enthusiasm, but remains steadfast as he resets the navigation.

“I don’t want to risk you getting hurt in the pickup. The planet is full of pirates-“

“-And you don’t want to risk your prized bounty being scooped up by someone else if they spot me.” Her voice is cold. It sends a rush of heat down his spine.

He turns to her, almost too quickly. “No!” He surprises her - and himself - with his reaction, then starts over.

“No. It’s not that at all. I just got into a fire fight the last time I was on this planet, and I don’t want you to...” he realizes there’s no way for him to say it without admitting it, “... get hurt.”

She’s skeptical; part of her still believes he wants to keep her safe so he can collect his bounty, but the way he said it... gives her pause.

*

He leaves her on the ship where he’s parked on the docks and sets off, half reluctant to leave her behind and half worried she’ll turn up in the middle of the whole operation and get herself hurt.

His target is close, the coordinates were this very dock. An empty warehouse, a boarded up cantina, an old fisherman’s shack... where would a target be in this ghost town, he wonders.

Switching to heat vision, he scans the area and finds nothing. He’s about to return to the ship to review his instructions when a clump of white enters his field of vision behind a wall of the warehouse. Too bright to be a lone being, his brain immediately registers it to be a large group. And that’s when he realizes: It’s a setup.

It hits him just as the first shots come at him, and he has only enough time to get a few blind shots off and take cover behind a nearby pile of scrap metal. Karrus must have set a trap to get to Lim himself and avoid paying the bounty. Kriffing lowlife son of a bantha…

He has no time to think, however, as Karrus’ men spill out of the nearby warehouse, opening fire that he returns. Whistling birds take out a handful of attackers and give him time to find better cover in an abandoned shop nearby. When one assailant makes it through, they fight hand-to-hand and move across the dock backwards towards the water. Three more men come from nowhere, flanking and making it nearly impossible for him to fight them all off.

He’s about to take off with his jet pack when an unseen blaster shot takes out one, then another, and a third, making it easier for him to take out the last assailant by hand. When he’s in the clear, he turns to look for his new ally...

... and sees Lim about 50 yards away, a stolen blaster smoking in her hands and her eyes wild with fear.

He stares, unable to understand and ready to tell her to get back to the ship, when he’s struck from behind by a strong blaster bolt and laid out on his stomach. She advances and fires, taking another assailant down, while he watches her with awe.

When she ducks back behind a nearby wall, he scrambles to join her and gives up any pretense. “I told you to stay on the ship!”

“You looked like you could use some help,” she replies, checking behind them.

“Why did you do that?” He asks incredulously. “You could have just shot me and taken off…”

She shrugs. “You’ve been kind to me. And you’re my only chance to get off this planet alive.”

Blaster bolts slice through the air above their heads and he peeks around the corner to assess their situation, getting off a few shots to eliminate one more. “I thought you didn’t want to go back to Sebeya?”

He moves to a crouch and she follows with a laugh, “I don’t! But I also don’t want to die here.”

He can’t begrudge her that, he realizes. But before he can think any further, a shot careens off his helmet and causes her to duck. He covers her with an arm, “Stay low. I’m going up.”

She nods, and he soars into the air, taking out a handful of men coming at Lim from the boarded up cantina. But he’s too focused on coming back around to clear out the warehouse to notice the team of two that approaches from the rear to grab her.

Just as the sound of her shout reaches him, he turns and sees her take one hit to the face, then a second one, before being hoisted bodily in the air, kicking the other with her legs and screaming.

He rockets back as quickly as he can, unable to aim for his opponents as they tussle on the ground. They’re moving too much and he’s going too fast. No matter, he thinks; he’ll just grab her and go.

But he’s pulled up short when the unthinkable happens and she’s hit with a blaster bolt from a third man bringing up the rear on the attack.

“LIM!” he shouts her name as she hits the ground, swooping in to grab her before their attackers can register what’s happening.

Taking off back into the air, he can barely breathe from fear. All he can think about is keeping her tight in his arms and looking for a safe landing spot. He locates the ship and heads back there, his heart pounding.

Safe on the ground, he lays her down gently, repeating over and over again: “No no no no no, Lim, please…”

He’s panicked. His hands shake as he brushes the hair from her face and pats her cheek. “Lim, please, wake up.” His voice cracks. He knew it. He kriffing knew it. How could he be so stupid and let her get involved like this…

Not ready to confirm it, he takes one of his gloves off and lets his hand hover over her heart, saying a prayer to whatever higher being is listening. Placing it gently against the skin, he holds his breath - and finds it beating firmly.

He nearly bursts into tears; she was stunned. Thank the Maker, their blasters were only set to stun. Of course Karrus would want her back alive, he realizes. But he also doesn’t care what shape she’s in, judging by how badly his men beat her before stunning her. Blood seeps from her nose and her cheek is split. He wishes he could kill them twice for what they did to her.

The sound of a distant blaster bolt brings him back to his senses, and he realizes he needs to get her out of here. Whether he’s ready or not, it’s time to act.


	4. Chapter 4

He carries her up the loading ramp and into the bowels of the Razor Crest, stopping at his sleeping quarters where he shifts to support her head and lay her down on the soft padding.

She’s hurt - unconscious and bleeding from her nose where she took the worst of the hits from their attackers - but he uses some bacta spray to fix the most obvious of her wounds while she’s out.

When he stands back to take in her prone form in the recessed bed below him, he sighs; he should have locked her up. She had been adamant in wanting to join him but he should have put the binders back on her. He should have known better.

She stirs in her sleep, a groan escaping her lips before she quiets once more. He can’t leave her like this, he knows. So he secures the loading ramp and sets the autopilot for Nevarro, a long journey but at least one he can make safely. When it comes to what’s next, he’ll figure it out when he gets there. Right now he can only focus on getting her healed up. He rummages through his stocks for some portions to prepare when she wakes. She won’t be hungry, but she’ll need to eat.

As he climbs down the ladder, he hears her moving and finds her shifting to her side in his bed.

“Lim,” he says quietly.

She’s holding her head in pain, her face twisted in a grimace. She can only manage a soft hum of recognition.

“Are you alright?” he asks. He knows she is not.

“My head,” she manages to whisper. “It feels like it’s being stabbed.”

He feels strange - it’s his heart, he realizes. Empathy for her, and an intense desire to take her pain away. The helplessness at realizing he can’t.

“I can get you some more bacta-“ he begins.

She holds out a hand - don’t bother - and it sinks back to her side. Her eyes are closed. He’s never felt so helpless. It scares him, how much he cares for her.

“Stay with me?”

The words are so weak, he almost believes he imagined them. He pauses, silent. Maybe he did.

”Mando?”

She manages to lift herself up on an elbow to look at him. “Can I just rest my head on your armor? The cold will feel good,” she pleads.

He’s struck by the question. There’s barely enough room for him in there on his own, he knows.. she’s small but not _that_ small.

But her eyes are so desperate...

Without speaking, he climbs into the sleeping quarters gingerly on his hands and knees, careful not to land on any part of her. She shifts with a grimace, making room for him as he settles on his back.

And as if it were the most natural thing in the world, she curls into his side, her arm wrapped around his torso and her temple pressed against his chest plate. As she settles, he freezes, momentarily stunned by her lack of - fear? Inhibitions? He scolds himself for even thinking this is anything more than her simply looking for comfort. Her body is heavy against his; she’s finally relaxed, the cool beskar steel calming the ache in her head.

She sighs heavily, the last of her tension melting away. He looks down at her head on his chest. He’s never actually been in this bed with anyone else. Or _any_ bed, actually. Or even this close to a woman. It makes his head spin. Rather than go down that train of thought, he forces himself to think about the things that need to be done: the autopilot still needs some tinkering, they’ll need refueling when they land, Karga will need to be briefed on the whole situation, but will he tell him everything…

“Do Mandalorians fall in love?”

The question startles him. He fights the urge to stutter, and simply replies after a beat, “Some do.”

Seeming satisfied with that answer, she lays quietly for a few moments. Internally he sighs in relief. He picks a spot on the ceiling and stares, his eyes growing heavy.

“Do you?”

Her voice is a whisper now, softer and more distant. She‘s fighting sleep. Just the sound of it does something to him. He can’t even think straight.

“Sleep now. You need to rest.”

He knows he sounds desperate, because he is. His beliefs have been all sorts of questioned in the past few weeks and the thought of having to explore another one, especially with her...

In reply, she sighs and moves even closer to him. She’s asleep now, doesn’t know what she’s doing when she wraps a leg around him. Her skin warms everything she comes into contact with. It drives him crazy.

His hands twitch at his sides, purposely nowhere near her - although he wears thick gloves, he knows touching her would be too much.

Focused on a spot on the ceiling beyond his sleeping quarters, he finally feels his eyes getting heavier again. The idea of sleep does sound nice, he muses. Distantly, he thinks that he should probably go shut off the buggy autopilot and idle while they sleep...

And then they were somewhere else. Warm. The sound of waves on a shore come at him from somewhere nearby. He feels the breeze on his face - his face. His helmet is gone.

The panic he knows he should feel just isn’t there; for some reason he knows everything will be fine.

He brings his hands to his face and feels skin on skin - his armor and gloves are missing too. Her voice causes him to turn and find her, beautiful in the sunlight, and smiling. Her flight suit is gone; she’s in a simple dress instead, one that grazes her ankles. Her shoulders are bare and her hair tumbles across them, shining red and burnt orange in the light of the setting sun. He’s never seen anything so beautiful. He wants to touch it.

She walks up to him, bringing his helmet around from behind her back. “Looking for this?” she asks mischievously. He catches a glimpse of the girl that used to play keep-away with him on Aq Vetina, and it makes his heart swell.

He briefly thinks he should take it back from her, but doesn’t move. She places the helmet in the sand beside her and reaches for his hand, continuing towards the water. He walks with her, realizing he’s in simple pants and a tunic; he feels lighter and free, the sun warming his face, his fingers curled around hers. It’s been years since he felt the warmth of a sun on his skin and someone else’s hand in his. It's peaceful.

Together they walk through the sand, her just a few steps ahead of him. Her skin glows in the golden light and makes him smile. It feels right to smile.

As she stops at the water and dips her toes in, she looks back at him:

“Fly.”

He stares at her; what does she mean?

She smiles beatifically. “Fly,” she repeats, more slowly this time, reaching for his hand and pulling him towards her in the water.

He feels an absurd laugh rise from his throat and looks around - fly what? When she speaks again, it‘s with panic that he can’t see on her face, only hear in her voice.

“Mando, you’ve got to fly this thing!”

He snaps back to consciousness and finds her standing, tugging on his arm and trying to wake him. The ship shudders around them. “Come on,” she shouts, terrified.

In seconds he’s up the ladder and taking the controls; the autopilot had failed after a few hours’ flight and they floated through an asteroid belt, being jostled by giant immovable rocks on all sides of them.

He curses under his breath and rights the ship, piloting them expertly through the field as she braces nearby, hands on the backs of the two cockpit seats.

Safe once again, he sets the controls and looks back at her: she looks much more human now, the dried blood under her nose more endearing than anything. The panic on her face makes him smile to himself under the helmet.

“It’s alright. The autopilot has been acting up lately, I’ll have it looked at again when we land on Nevarro.”

She exhales, the fear melting from her like water, and sinks into the copilot’s seat. “I thought he’d found us again,” she says weakly.

He tenses at the mention of the man that had essentially sold her into slavery. He doesn’t want to think about what he’d do to the bastard if he ever saw him. Karrus had set the bounty on her head that brought her back into his life, but not before treating her like an object and beating her half to death.

Din would love to return the favor.

“He won’t,” he reassures her. He can hear the anger in his voice but hopes she hears it as determination.

She tucks her knees under her chin, looking out the viewport at the stars they pass. “I don’t think I’ll ever be safe until he’s dead.”

It shocks him to hear her speaking so plainly. But it’s true.

“We’ll start with Nevarro. We should be safe there for a while, until we figure out what to do next.”

That seems to satisfy her, and he feels himself relax, until she speaks again.

“Do you know other Mandalorians?”

Her question surprises him. Unable to give her the information he knows she’s probably looking for, he finds himself reverting back to the creed and focusing on just the question she asked.

“I do.”

A beat.

“Did you know anyone that fought on Aq Vetina during the Clone Wars?”

He begins to sweat.

“Mandalorians have fought in wars for centuries,” he offers, knowing it’s a vague response but hoping she’ll let it go.

To his relief, she doesn’t respond, only traces an X in the foggy patch her breath creates on the glass. He keeps his eyes on the path ahead and double checks the navigation: three more hours. How is he going to live through three hours of her in the same space as him, he wonders. It was easier when she was sleeping, but now even the thought of going back down to his sleeping quarters with her was enough to make him start sweating again.

He’s speaking before he can stop himself. “You should get some rest, it’s three hours until we get there.”

She pauses - she didn’t expect him to change the subject so quickly. Her silence makes his stomach go oily.

She sits up, plants her feet on the ground. “What about you? Don’t you need rest too?”

He speaks to the viewport without turning to look at her. “I’ll be fine.”

He feels her gaze on him, practically burning him. She wants something. He doesn’t dare think about what.

After a few moments without a response, she stands and makes her way to the steps back down to the sleeping quarters below deck.

“Let me know when we’re close.”

She can’t hide the disappointment from her voice. He feels it in his chest, like a thorn buried under his ribs.

When he hears her get to the bottom of the ladder, he releases a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. They can’t get to Nevarro fast enough, he thinks with a sigh.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a New Year's Day bonus, you get a second new chapter in one day! Enjoy.

He manages to get an hour of sleep before he’s jolted awake again, the memory of his dream fading as quickly as he tries to remember it: he stands atop a mountain, the Luminous Plains of Mera stretch in all directions as far as the eye can see. Lim stands nearby, glowing in the sunset, the wind tugging at her hair. No longer does she appear as she did in his childhood fantasy; she is just as he knows her now, a fully grown woman, dressed in a radiant gown the color of the clouds on a blue sky day. She turns and smiles, and the last thing he sees before waking is her extended hand, which he reaches for. 

With a sigh, he shakes off sleep and checks his navigation system: one hour left. He should get something to eat before she wakes, he reasons. After digging through his portions to find a meal, he settles back into the pilot’s chair and pulls his helmet off, eating quickly. He takes advantage of this alone time and decides to wash his face and hair. Slipping down the ladder quietly, he ducks into the fresher and closes the door behind himself to scrub the weeks’ dirt from his face. It feels good to be clean once more, and he takes a beat to examine his face in the mirror.

He’s aged, he muses. Not a bad thing. But his eyes are no longer the bright, wounded eyes of a foundling. Instead, they’re softer. Or he’s just more tired, he thinks. Not like her eyes.

His thoughts drift to her blue eyes that watch him intently, clocking his every move. Then he thinks about her lips, her hair, the way she calls him “Mando”... He sighs as he runs his hands through his hair one last time to dry it before he puts the helmet back on…

His helmet.

Dank farrik, he left it up in the cockpit. He weighs his options and decides he’ll have to be quick, and get back up there before she wakes.

He climbs the ladder back up without a backward glance, but is frozen in his tracks when he gets to the top and finds her sitting at the window once more, her eyes fixed on the helmet in her lap.

Kriff.

For a split second, he thinks maybe he can get back below deck to find some kind of cowl or something… until the floor creaks beneath him and her head turns, her eyes already on him.

He is rooted to the floor now, his body gone entirely numb. Her mouth opens in recognition and her eyes widen.

“Din?”

He casts his eyes to the floor to avoid hers, unwilling to look up for fear of his own reaction. His stomach goes cold. She takes three tentative steps towards him and stops right in front of him so he can’t avoid her.

“Look at me.” Her voice is strong, but soft. Not a whisper, but not a demand.

His heart pounds so hard, he swears he can hear it against his armor. When his gaze meets hers, she sucks in a shaky breath.

It’s him. Nearly 30 years later, she’d know those brown eyes anywhere. How could she not? They still lock onto her and make her feel _seen_ , just like they did on Aq Vetina. She’s thought of them every day since the last time she saw them, all those years ago, the day the Mandalorians took him away from her and left her to fend for herself on a planet destroyed by war.

Tears of awe fill her eyes. He wants to catch them; his hands twitch at his sides but he restrains himself.

“You…” she tries to speak, but words fail her. Her voice is caught in her throat. The sound does something to him. It’s too much.

“Lim, I’m so sorry,” he begins. He doesn’t know what he’s going to say next, he just knows he has to say something, anything, to keep her from crying.

But that doesn’t work. At the sound of her name on his lips, the tears spill down her cheeks. A sob escapes her throat. “I thought you were dead,” she manages to choke out.

His cheeks burn. He’s so ashamed to have not told her; he can practically feel her disappointment.

She looks down at the helmet in her hands, turns it to examine it as she searches for the right words. When she looks back up at him, she is resolute.

“Here,” she says, offering the helmet back to him with a look of resignation and reverence, her eyes cast downward to give him privacy.

“Put it back on.”

He’s confused - for once, that’s not what he wants. But it touches him deeply. When he looks up from the helmet in his hands, she can’t help but look at him one last time. She scans his face like she’s trying to memorize it before it’s hidden once more.

A thousand things he wants to tell her, and yet he’s rendered speechless.

When he puts the helmet back on, the last thing he sees before locking it into place is her eyes: fixed on his, and filled with tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a short one but there is more coming, I promise, and the next few chapters are going to be goooood!


	6. Chapter 6

The rest of the trip to Nevarro is quiet - she takes up residence in the bowels of the ship, tucked away in his sleeping quarters, and he remains up top, piloting them into a familiar landing bay where he’ll be able to have the autopilot looked at properly.

He wants to talk to her, but doesn’t even know where to begin. Right now, the priority should be on figuring out a way to keep her safe, but he can’t stop thinking about the sadness in her eyes when she saw his face, or the sound of her voice when she said his name. It feels like a pit in his stomach.

He decides to confront the situation when they land, making his way down the ladder to the loading bay. Halfway down, he finds her already seated at the edge of his bed. Before he can open his mouth, she’s commandeering the conversation.

“Karrus is going to keep looking for me until he finds me, or until we kill him,” she says, her voice shaking.

It makes him pause - was she not going to address the fact that he was the kid she grew up with on Aq Vetina? At all? - but he’s quietly grateful to see she’s on board with at least part of the idea he had to begin with: to kill Karrus.

He’s not one for vigilantism, but in this case, he can’t find any other alternative. He has to eradicate the threat against her, and that threat lies solely with Karrus. If Din could somehow eliminate him from the picture, Lim would be safe. And she thought the same thing.

But he’s struck by the way she phrases it.

“We?” he asks, the hint of a smile in his voice.

She falters briefly, but remains resolute. “Yes. I know I can’t take him on alone, but with your help, I might be able to.”

He nods. She’s ready. “Right, then. Where do we start?”

This is where her face shifts into a mask of uncertainty.

“How many other bounty hunters do you know?” she asks, knowing it’s a loaded question.

But one he hadn’t considered the answer to until just now.

*

By the end of the day, they’ve met with Greef Karga, explained their situation, and enlisted his help in recruiting a team of Guild members to help track down and eliminate Karrus. He’s been a thorn in the side of many a Guild member; the ambush on Bandua was simply the last straw.

Karga’s connections were able to forge a bounty on Karrus, with Lim providing the access codes to Karrus’ wealth once he was out of the picture. They’d brief the dozen or so bounty hunters that were on board the following morning. The plan was fraught with holes and not as clean as Din would want, but he knew this was as good as it was going to get.

Besides, he tells himself as they make their way back to the Razor Crest to sleep for the evening, all he needs to do is get in the same room as Karrus. Once he sees that sniveling sleemo in the flesh, he’ll have a hard time _not_ killing him with his bare hands for what he did to Lim.

An odd sense of unease fills him once they’re settled in for the evening. Unlike anything he’s ever felt before, it’s not a bad feeling; more like a mix of anticipation and happiness. _Is this what hope feels like_ , he wonders idly as he watches the twilight shift from orange to purple over Nevarro through the viewport of the ship.

“I’m sorry I was looking at your helmet earlier.”

He spins to find her at the entrance to the cockpit, looking sheepish.

“It’s alright. I shouldn’t have taken it off.”

The words sound cold to him. He hopes she doesn’t think the same thing.

She takes a step forward and sits, her eyes locked on him. He can feel the tension in the air. Her eyes search him; he swears he can feel the heat of her gaze through the beskar.

“I searched for you... “ she says quietly. “For years, Din.”

He stops breathing at her confession, his skin prickling under his armor. She continues, eyes fixed on her boots. “Every planet I went to, every new face I met, I’d ask about Mandalorians. But your people are like smoke; already gone by the time you catch a whiff of them.”

When she looks up, her eyes are filled with tears once more. He fights the urge to tell her everything, and waits for her to finish.

“So I told myself you were dead. I had to, to move on. To stop hoping I’d see you every time I landed on a new planet, and being let down when you weren’t there.”

She sniffs, her lip finally curling into a sad smile, “And then you walk into that bar with my face on your bounty puck. Just like that.”

“Lim, I-“ he starts, uncertain of what to say, but she shakes her head.

“I’m not angry. I just...” she trails off, uncertain of her words, too. Finally, unable to control herself, she stands, looking like she’s ready to burst.

He mirrors her and stands, his fingers twitching; _please_ , he thinks to himself.

As if she could read his mind, she moves toward him, and before he can think he’s meeting her, crashing into her, clinging to like she was a life raft in the middle of an ocean. He feels a sob course through her body. He can’t help stroking her hair and giving her a soothing hum. “I’m here.”

With each moment that passes, more and more he wishes he could hold her with his bare hands, feel the crush of her weight against his chest. His armor has always been there as a buffer against harm, but now, it was a prison that kept him from what he wanted most in the galaxy.

With layers of clothing and beskar between them, it’s not perfect, but it’s good. He only wishes he could feel her closer, skin to skin. The thought sends a rush of heat through his body.

Still tucked into his arms, she pulls away to look up at him. He can barely see her through the tears welling up in his eyes as she cradles the sides of his helmet in her hands.

“I can’t believe you’re in there,” she laughs, as if she can’t contain it. A smile creeps onto her face. And he never wants it to fade.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” he counters with his own light laugh. Her smile is contagious. More than anything, he wishes they could share this moment completely. He knows she wants to remove the helmet for him - and if he was honest with himself, he wants that too. But the conflict he feels is enough to tear him apart.

He covers her hands with his gloved ones, and a cloud passes over her face as she realizes what he’s doing. Sliding her fingers down the beskar, he places her hands back at her sides and looks back up at her. She’s confused.

“Din, I-“

Backing away from her hurts more than anything has ever hurt before. He can’t even begin to explain. He’ll never forgive himself for the pain he sees in her eyes in this moment.

She nods in resignation, “The creed.”

He can practically see the wall she puts up between them. When she speaks next, her voice is tight and her eyes are cold. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

By the time his eyes refocus and his ears stop ringing, she’s already halfway back down the ladder to the sleeping quarters, leaving him standing on the bridge, alone and lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I knowwwww I said it would get better and this chapter is kind of angsty, but I PROMISE it gets better soon!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FLUFF AHOYYYY

He spends the next few hours sitting on the bridge of the Razor Crest, untying the mental knots their last conversation created.

It wasn’t even a conversation, really. It was a mess, one that he got himself into by being so hewn to the Mandalorian creed. The creed had served him well to this point, giving him purpose and guidance when he needed it most, but what was it giving him in this moment?

She’s right there, he tells himself as he stares at the stars. Right there in his ship - in his sleeping quarters! The person he hasn't stopped thinking about for nearly his entire life is right in front of him, and he can’t even look at her without beskar separating them. All because of the creed.

The helmet can’t be removed in front of another living thing, that is what it says. His face cannot be seen by another living being.

Cannot be _seen_.

That’s when it hits him like a blaster bolt.

He stands and heads for the ladder, climbing down before he can think about it.

When he stops in front of the sleeping quarters, she’s already standing, waiting for him. Her mouth opens, and he cuts her off as he removes one glove.

“The creed states that my face cannot be seen by another living being,” he says, almost out of breath with excitement.

Her face shifts. She’s listening.

Reaching for the pad on his forearm armor, he presses a button and the cabin lights dim. “Seen,” he repeats, taking off the second glove.

The realization dawns on her so slowly that she almost doesn’t believe what’s happening as he tosses the gloves aside.

He looks at her through the helmet one last time, watching her reaction as he pushes one more button and turns the lights out entirely, plunging them both into darkness. Black and heavy, it covers everything. He wears it like a cloak, his remaining senses immediately heightened by the loss of sight.

He doesn’t even waste any time wondering if what he’s about to do fits within the creed. All he can think about is… her.

Sliding his hands under the ridge of the helmet, he removes it slowly, more concerned with how he might look than he should be, seeing as how it’s pitch black.

Once it’s off entirely, he drops it to the floor and hears her jump and gasp; it makes him smile. He can hear her perfectly, even breathes in her scent as he steps closer: blueblossoms.

He reaches for her hands slowly, fingertips grazing her sleeves and making her twitch once more. Her hands shake when his fingertips glide over the backs of them. Softly, he lifts her hands with his, palm to palm - and their first touch is electric.

Looking down at where he knows her face should be, his eyes dart across the darkness to seek out even a hint of her, with no luck. But her skin is so soft. He couldn’t have imagined how soft it is, until he slides his hands around hers to guide them up, up, up… to rest on his cheeks.

Her surprised gasp sends a thrill down his spine. Mixed with the warmth of her touch - the first touch he’s felt since he was a child - it’s almost too much for him to handle. His lips part to take in a breath, and he can’t help the smile that spreads across his face. He drops his hands to his sides, brushing his knuckles down her arms as he does, just to feel the softness of her skin once more.

Tentative and gentle, she traces the lines of his cheekbones, thumbs ghosting over his lips. He’s never known anything more perfect. At the sound of her happy sigh, he closes his eyes in ecstasy, never wanting this moment to end.

“Where did you go?” she whispers. “All these years, when I thought you were dead. Where were you hiding?” The warmth of her breath so close to his cheek sets his heart racing.

“It’s a long story,” he offers, his smile spreading under her touch. The sound of his voice without the distortion of the helmet’s modulator sends shivers through her. “I promise, I’ll tell you everything, in time.”

Across his brow her fingertips dance, brushing stray strands from his forehead and coursing through his hair, around the back of his head. He hums in delight at the feeling of her nails on his scalp, a sound she reciprocates before stepping even closer to him.

“Ahh.. time,” she murmurs. “It’s not promised to anyone, least of all, me.” She gently scrapes her knuckles over the stubble on his jaw and that’s when he realizes: she’s memorizing his face by touch. Her words give him pause.

He traces lines down her arms with his bare hands and feels the skin goosebump. “What do you mean?”

One hand cradles his cheek while the other slides down his neck and comes to rest against the cool beskar of his chest plate. “Karrus isn’t stupid. He probably already knows we’re coming for him tomorrow. If the plan doesn’t work, I don’t know how much more time I have,” she says quietly.

His stomach twists. He knew the gravity of the situation, but this is the first chance he’s had to think about it from her point of view. The finality she presents it with leaves him no choice.

His voice is like ice. “Then it’ll work,” he says, sending a chill down her spine. “We’ll _make_ it work. And then you’ll have all the time in the galaxy.”

He’s surprised by her hands as they cradle his face, and can hear her smile as she replies, “I get all that? And what about you? What do you get?” She strokes the stubble on his cheeks, the playfulness of her words making his heart flutter. He fights the urge to lean in and kiss her but holds back; the last thing he wants is to go too far.

He laughs lightly, at a loss for words. Her touch softens and she drops her hands. “We’ll make it work,” he repeats, daring to stroke her cheek in return.

She leans into his touch like a content Loth-cat. “All the time in the galaxy,” she repeats.

He thinks he could do this forever. With any luck, after tomorrow, he just might get his wish.


	8. Chapter 8

It’s morning on Nevarro, and Din rounds up their new team of bounty hunters, going over the plan once more before setting out for Sebeya:

Karrus is holed up on the Minboe Station orbiting the planet. Originally built to accommodate the miners that lived there centuries ago, the station is long out of commission and overrun with the seedier side of intergalactic life. Over time, it has become a popular Outer Rim way station for crime lords looking to launder credits and lay low, especially after the fall of the Empire.

The team is set to arrive at various times throughout the day on the Station before Karrus is supposed to be heading to a decoy meeting with a rival boss that Karga has set up that evening. Essentially an ambush, they load up on weapons and plot out their spots both covert and in plain sight, using schematics they were fed by an old informant still loosely tied with the Guild.

The flight to Minboe is tense; Lim is unable to focus on little else than the weapons she’s been given. She’ll be right at the front line of the operation, at her request. Din is only too happy to give her what she wants in this case: having her on the front lines means he can keep her in his sights - and keep her safe.

When they arrive, they file out of the ship to take their places in staggered shifts, 2 and 3 at a time so as not to attract attention. A group of nearly two dozen bounty hunters wouldn’t be well-received, even on a station like this one.

At go-time, they join the team at the location nearest the door Karrus should be leaving from any moment now. Din’s stomach is in knots. When he’s sure they’re alone in their perch, he turns to her and nods. “All the time in the galaxy.”

It brings a smile to her face. It’s all the motivation he needs to get this job done, and get it done right.

*

Only it doesn’t work that way. In fact, it goes about as badly as a job can go, he thinks as she helps him stagger away from the resulting battle.

Over their comms, they learned that Karrus was approaching from a new angle; he had decided to make a stop at a cantina. A few members of the team relocated to the cantina to keep an eye on his movements there, while he and Lim and a handful of others stayed behind to make the shot when he finally arrives.

Between the splitting of the teams, the last minute changes to the timeline, and Karrus’ bodyguards, they were set up to fail from the start. Karrus and his men escaped. While only one team member was lost to the ensuing firefight, many were wounded, fleeing to their own ships or local halfway houses.

Which is where Din finds himself currently, tucked between buildings in an alley, slumped against the wall and breathing heavily with Lim at his side. He’s in pain, wounded from the fight and in need of respite.

Realizing he’s unable to fly and thinking fast, she finds them a room for the night in a lodging house near the landing pad, and helps him onto the lone bed.

Placing her hands on his arms, fingers curling around the beskar plates, she takes a deep breath.

“We have to get you out of this armor, Din.”

He contemplates what this means and looks at her through the helmet, grunting, “Yes.”

With a nod, she moves quickly, turning the lights off and drawing the window shades. He begins by removing his boots and gloves, but she finds him in the pale darkness and stills his hands with hers.

“Let me.”

Through the pain, he feels the weight of what she’s doing as she starts with his shoulder pauldrons, fingers moving deftly over the buckles of the armor and placing the discarded pieces carefully on a side table. He offers his arms, weak from the worst hit he has taken in his shoulder, and she continues with his forearm gauntlets, bandoleer, and belt, which takes his hip and kidney armor with it.

He grunts when she has to move him forward; she winces. “I’m sorry, Din… I know…”

While he’s sitting up, she reaches next for the fasteners on his flak vest. The heaviest of the chest and back armor comes off with this, lightening his load considerably, despite the helmet remaining in place. The jumpsuit jacket follows, along with the neck seal tucked under everything. Once she has him down to just the tunic that he wears under everything, his body sags against the wall.

“Din, I know it hurts, but I just have to get the last of this off and then you can rest, okay?”

He nods and grunts, his breath catching as he lifts his legs onto the bed. The pain and dizziness makes his thoughts fuzzy as she gets to work on his thigh, knee, and shin armor, stripping the last of it away with a thud on the side table. The last remaining piece, his helmet, shines in the soft light that filters in through the small slatted window. He shifts to his side with a groan before he can contemplate how to approach this.

“Bacta-“ he manages to gasp out as the pain in his shoulder takes his breath away.

“Bacta…” she starts.

His breathing is labored. “On the ship. The medpac on the ship has bacta, and everything else I’ll need to get this patched up.”

She nods and grabs her cloak in a hurry. As she reaches for the door, he calls out weakly, “Bring a blaster-“

“Ah. Blaster…..” She grabs the one in his hip holster on the table. He nods.

She returns the gesture and heads back out to the ship, moving into the shadows.

While she’s gone, he takes stock of his surroundings but finds himself fading quickly. Consciousness is harder and harder to cling to the longer she’s gone, and he distantly feels concern for her. Karrus and his men took off after the fight, of that he’s sure, but who knows what else is out there. This station isn’t exactly known for its friendly nightlife.

What feels like hours later, she returns with the medpac and a handful of portions, along with some other provisions they’ll need while spending the night away from the ship. When she closes the door behind her, she turns, her eyes adjusting to the lack of light. And once again, they find each other in the dark.

He’s nearly unconscious from the pain by the time she gets to him; he jolts awake with a groan when she sits on the bed beside him.

“It’s me, Din.”

He nods, shifting to give her the space she needs to get to work on his wounds. Within a few minutes, he’s sighing with the relief the bacta brings, the worst of his injuries already on their way to healing. His head clears more with each passing minute, and he’s brought back to the moment, there with her on the bed. “Thank you,” he begins, his voice modulator nearly losing the words he speaks so softly.

She nods silently. This is the part they had both been dreading and anticipating, in nearly equal parts.

“I can sleep in the ship if you need-“ she begins.

He sits up, adamant. “No, that’s not…”

He looks around - the light coming in through the window is faint, but it’s not completely black in the room. It pains him to think about sleeping in the helmet like this, but-

“I have an idea,” she says. It’s her turn for a revelation.

He watches with trepidation as she takes off her traveling cloak and strips down to just her under tunic and simple trousers, climbing on the bed next to him. As she settles in and turns her back to him, he realizes what she’s getting at, and takes the next step.

Slipping his helmet off slowly, he takes a deep breath, relishing the feeling of the cool air on his face, and looks down at her: eyes closed, she fits herself against him like a little spoon to his larger one, unable to see anything from where she lays, least of all his face.

He places the helmet on the side table and turns back, the sight of her there in the bed with him nearly taking his breath away. She’s perfect, he thinks to himself. He almost can’t believe it’s really happening, until he slides down under the blankets with her and feels her heat against him. No flight suit, no beskar, no helmet - just their shared warmth. It’s enough to make his heart skip a beat when he tentatively places a hand on her waist.

She responds with a sigh and pulls his arm around her, tucking herself neatly into his embrace.

“Is this alright? With your shoulder?” she asks quietly.

He knows he’s taking a risk, but he can’t resist the urge to bury his nose in her hair gently, and breathe in her scent. He replies almost absent-mindedly, “It’s perfect.” 

It brings a smile to her face. She hums: “Perfect.”

It’s the last thing he hears before he drifts off to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

When morning arrives, Lim wakes before Din, the light slowly brightening the room. He’s on his side, facing away from her, and she knows he’ll need to armor up again before long. But for now, while he’s asleep, she takes in the outline of his shoulder, the curve of the muscles in his arm, the way his jaw dips. She marvels at the way his hair ruffles against the pillow. She cannot see his face and doesn’t even dare consider looking.

Before, it was torture to know he was beneath the flight suit and all of those layers of steel. But now, lying before her like this, laid bare without all the trappings of his armor, she doesn’t know how she’s going to survive waiting for him to wake, or having to watch him suit back up and go back into hiding in plain sight. She wants to see his face so badly, but respects his creed more.

She knows what she has to do.

*  
When his eyes open, Din panics: he’s completely unmasked and exposed, and knows Lim has to be nearby. Rolling over, he finds himself alone in the room and the panic grows.

“Lim??” He bolts out of the bed, ready to run for her, when he spots his armor stacked neatly on the side table, his helmet resting atop a note:

“See you on the ship.”

With a sigh of relief, he runs his hands over his face and finds his shoulder to be almost completely healed, and the rest of his injuries nearly forgotten. Dragging his fingers through his hair, he takes a deep breath. How bad would it be to have her there with him in the morning, he thinks. The creed aside, he wonders - what would her hair look like in the early morning light? What would her breath feel like on his cheek as she slept next to him? How many times could he kiss her before she begged him for more…

Reluctantly, he shakes himself out of his daydream. He has to get going.

*

Fully suited up, he climbs aboard the ship before the nearby planet’s twin moons have faded from view. Lim greets him on the bridge, in her usual spot in the co-pilot’s seat.

“Thank you,” he begins.

She shakes her head, “No need to thank me. How are you feeling?”

He stands at the controls and takes stock of their surroundings. “Good as new.”

She hums, “Good.”

As he double checks the navigation, he’s struck by an idea. The events of the past day have made him lighter, more prone to wild ideas. “Do you want to fly the ship?”

He turns to find her looking at him with an eyebrow cocked. “What?”

“Have you ever flown before?” he’s smiling under the helmet. Her confusion makes her even more adorable to him.

“No, but I don’t want to kill us,” she says.

“You won’t kill us,” he laughs. “I’ll walk you through it every step of the way.”

"You promise you're not going to let me fly us into a supernova?" she asks tentatively.

He laughs as they trade places and he settles into the co-pilot's seat, “Promise.”

She buckles herself into the five-point harness, as he pushes buttons on the console, bringing the ship’s engines online. The low purr makes the whole ship vibrate gently.

Without looking up, he addresses her kindly, "Alright now, what you're going to do is grab a hold of that throttle," he motions to the stick before her, "and slowly pull it back to gain elevation."

She looks at him with a tiny bit of panic, but he simply laughs kindly and reassures her, "It'll feel natural once you start."

Reluctantly, she places her hands on the the lever and tugs back gently. To her amazement, the Razor Crest shudders before lifting smoothly off the ground.

"Excellent. Now tilt back," he says, miming the motion with his own hands. She watches and follows his lead, and before she can think, they’re airborne, arching towards the atmosphere.

Without taking her eyes off the viewport ahead of her, she gasps, “Ah! I did it! I'm flying!"

He laughs proudly, his voice turning warm and soft even through the modulator as he encourages her, “You're flying."

She glances at him, wide-eyed and so pleased with herself. Even though his face is hidden behind the helmet, she can almost see his smile. She really wishes she could.

As she turns back to find darkening skies and emerging stars as they enter space, she panics. “Uhmm, what's next?"

He shrugs, “Where do you want to go? You're the pilot.” She can hear the smile in his voice.

“I only know of the places you... wouldn’t want to go,” she says delicately.

He picks up immediately on her meaning and improvises. “I think I know the place..." His hands fly over the buttons as he sets new coordinates. As he finishes, he turns to her. "Ready to make your first jump to lightspeed?"

She was shocked. "Seriously?”

He nods down at the button on the lever in front of her. “Really. Just push that button and press that lever forward nice and slow," he says reassuringly. "Then hold on tight."

He looks on as she presses the button and smiles at him. Placing a hand gently on the lever, she takes a deep breath and exhales slowly as she pushes forward.

Immediately the ship lurches forward and pushes them both back into their seats, the stars around them streaking into straight lines as they shoot forward at lightspeed. Exhilarated, she lets out a breath and laughs as she turns to face him. "I did it!” she remarks with wonder.

He nods and covers her hand with his on the hyperspace lever. She looks down at his hand and realizes he is lifting it with a laugh.

“You can let go now, don't want to send us into overdrive and blow the engines," he says.

Shocked, she jerks her hand away with a gasp, "Oh kriff!" He laughs kindly and shakes his head.

"Don't worry, you're fine. We've got about 30 seconds before we get there. Now, the ship will drop out of hyperspace on its own, so you don't have to do anything."

She nods and settles back into her seat. He nods out the front viewport, "Just keep your eye out there when we drop out, I think you're going to like what you see.”

She smiles at him uncertainly and does as he says.

He counts down: "3, 2, 1.... and..."

With a shudder, the ship drops out of hyperspace and the view before them shifts from streaking stars to a colorful burst of clouds in breathtaking scale. Miles upon miles of rainbow-colored gases drift before them, with stars interspersed like diamonds throughout the vast expanse.

Lim gasps in total awe. “Din… what is this?"

"That's the Kaliida Nebula," he says gently, watching every minute detail of her reaction and smiling to himself. He’s thrilled by her reaction. He wants to give her everything in that moment. 

Searching each corner and finding new beauty to marvel at, she is completely dumbfounded. "It's incredible..." she exhales. The words just wouldn't form.

Tearing her eyes from the nebula, she looks over at him and feels it: every emotion she's ever had for him, and hidden or told herself to suppress, over the past 25 plus years - they all come bubbling to the surface.

And with just a look, he feels them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok this was straight fluff, I know. I was going to have it rolled into a previous or future chapter but thought it was perfectly lovely all on its own. I hope you enjoyed!


	10. Chapter 10

On their way back to Nevarro, they receive a message from Karga: Karrus has proposed a ceasefire. More accurately, he’ll give up his hunt for Lim in exchange for a crate of kyber crystals they are to intercept from an Imperial shipment that will be passing through the Droid City on Hala.

Droids and the Empire: not two of Din’s favorite things. And he can sense another double-crossing, he just doesn’t know where it’ll come from. A proposed pickup on Nevarro means it’s essentially happening on Din’s home turf, but something about a simple ceasefire seems… to easy to him.

But before he can ask about coordinates to intercept the shipment and get things in motion, Karga surprises him with the best part: a team has already left for Hala and will have the crystals by day’s end. The remaining bounty hunters they worked with on the last job are only too happy to jump at this opportunity - they not only want the chance to rip off the Empire, but clamor for the chance to take Karrus out after the ambush on Bandua.

Karga will arrange the pickup on Nevarro, and by the time they arrive, the only thing they have left to do is wait.

Which will be the hardest part of all for Din.

*

After a day of preparations, they sit on the loading bay of the Razor Crest, just outside the city walls of Nevarro at sunset. All that stands between them and their final showdown with Vinor Karrus is one night’s sleep. She sips at a mug of jogan juice while Din watches and dares to think about what the day after tomorrow could bring.

“Do you remember that game we used to play, racing to the top of the big hill at the edge of town?” Her eyes are distant, fixed on some point far off on the horizon. But she’s smiling to herself at the memory.

He does the same under his helmet. “I do. You’d always win.”

“You _let_ me win,” she corrects with a laugh.

He concedes, “Sometimes. But not as often as you’d think.”

She shrugs, settles back and stares at the orange and purple of the setting sun. He tries to freeze the moment in his mind’s eye.

“Thank you,” she says, turning to him entirely. “You could have just turned me in and forgotten me, but you didn’t. I can’t thank you enough.”

He can’t _not_ say it.

“I could never forget you.”

She pauses at his confession, the way he says it. Knowing what is going to happen tomorrow… what _could_ happen tomorrow… it makes him honest and talkative. This is what he’s been waiting to say since the moment he saw her face again. And it’s what she’s wanted to hear.

“What happens next?” she asks, tentatively, “After this job. We give him what he wants, then what?”

His stomach tightens. Maybe he’s not feeling talkative after all. “You get your life back.”

That’s not enough for her.

“And what about you?” Her eyes fix on him.

He shifts his weight uncomfortably. He doesn’t know what to say now. All of his courage has evaporated. So she continues.

“With his credits, you could make a nice life for yourself somewhere. Maybe find some Mandalorians, settle down and give up the bounty hunting slog,” she says, the hint of a smile in her voice. He knows what she’s hinting at. Or at least he thinks he does.

“I’m already part of a tribe.”

She doesn’t miss a beat, “Maybe you can find one that isn’t as… strict.”

This makes him stop. Now he really doesn’t know what she’s talking about. “Another tribe?”

She shrugs. “I’ve seen other Mandalorians who are free to take their helmets off, maybe that could be a nice fit. Show off that handsome face of yours,” she says with a smile.

He can’t tell if she’s joking or not. Other Mandalorians that show their faces? “But the creed-“

She cuts him off, “I know about your creed. But I know what I saw, and it was a team of three Mandalorians in a cantina on Trask, with owls on their shoulder armor. I didn’t get to talk to them, but…” she shrugs.

He’s stunned. The implications are staggering. He knows she wouldn’t lie, but remains silent as he processes this information. His thoughts are everywhere, scattered across the galaxy, but her soft smile comforts him and brings him back to the moment. There will be more time to think about this later.

He turns back just as the last sliver of the sun sinks below the horizon. The sky is on fire, the blanket of night creeping up to extinguish it, deep purple and scattered with stars.

“Maybe there are other tribes out there with different creeds?” she suggests quietly, standing to join him. Her eyes are warm, her body warmer. He swears he can feel it through the beskar.

“There’s more to the galaxy than what you’ve seen, Din.” She nods up at the stars and planets that are just beginning to appear in the twilight. “All of those other planets. Whole _worlds_ you have yet to explore. Don’t you ever wonder what else - who else - is out there?”

He’s torn between looking at the stars and looking at her. He always knew there could be others out there, but he never considered the possibility that there could be different creeds or belief systems. And he’d be lying if he said he didn’t wonder what else is out there. But for the first time he thinks of it not with sadness because he’s trapped as a bounty hunter, surviving from one bounty to the next. No, this time, hearing her say the things he’s felt for so many years, he feels that happy anticipation…

Hope. He feels hope, for what their future holds.

 _Their future_.

It’s the first time he’s thought about them as a unit, as a “they”. A clan of two. The thought surprises him and thrills him in equal parts.

“Maybe after all this, I’ll do some exploring,” he allows himself a sliver of that hope to shine through. It feels so good.

She smiles in response. “Good. May as well, when you’ll have all the time in the galaxy, right?”

The blush washes across his cheeks and he’s grateful yet again for the cover of the helmet. That boldness returns at the sight of her smile, and he replies, hoping she can hear the smile in his voice.

“We both will.”

It’s her turn to blush and go speechless. He means it as an invitation, and it is not lost on her.

*

Dawn breaks on Nevarro, and Din is already awake. He’s paced the floors of the covert all night knowing that while he’s tucked away in these caves, Lim is in a rented room in town, exposed and alone. She isn’t in danger; Karga has arranged for a constant watch, to which Din has a direct comlink. But it’s the first night they’ve spent apart since coming back into each other’s lives, and her absence makes him realize how much he needs her presence.

It’s no use letting himself get lost in his thoughts before the action even begins, he tells himself - he’s to meet Lim at the gates to the city, where they’ll wait for Karrus to land at the appointed time. His instructions were clear: just the two of them, no help.

Of course, Din had warned Karga and the rest of the Guild about the scenario, and they remained on standby. If Karga had appointed various teams to backup posts within the city, Din wasn’t aware of them; but judging by Karga’s reaction, Din knew they wouldn’t be truly alone.

They arrive at the appointed time, and after a few tense moments of waiting, a ship drops into the atmosphere above them, and the two exchange a look. It’s time.

The ship lands, engines still running. When the loading bay door opens, there he is, Vinor Karrus, in the flesh. Din’s blood boils at the sight of him.

He stays close as Lim steps forward with the handle of the case clutched in her hand, as their instructions indicated. "Call off your men!” she demands over the roar of the ship's engines, raising the case slowly in the air. "I have the stones, they're yours!"

"Careful, Lim," Din warns her quietly.

Without looking to him, she responds quietly, "Its under control."

As she lowers the case to the ground, she stands back up and kicks it to Karrus, stepping back with both hands in the air.

His eyes glow when he opens it, a greedy smile spreading across his face as he takes in the contents.

The man behind him calls out, "Are we go?"

Karrus nods and closes his new possession, "We are go!"

The same greedy smile spreads across the face of the man behind him, but instead of taking their prize and leaving, the two men draw their weapons.

Before they can react, their attackers spring forward, pulling blasters from inside their jackets, and a squad emerges to attack them from 3 sides.

"Lim!!" Din yells as he dives for her, knocking her to the ground as the men open fire on them mercilessly.

"Get to the ship!" one screams as they fire, over and over again. More of Karrus’ men appear from nowhere. Scrambling to his feet in a crouch, Din helps Lim to crawl with him behind a nearby air purifying unit as they take heavy fire.

She’s furious. Din, on the other hand, springs into action and grabs his ankle blaster. "Stay here," he warns her.

Before she can stop him, he’s standing and firing back at them as Karrus’ men cover his retreat to their ship with the crystals.

As he emerges from their hiding spot, he spots a familiar sight in the sky above their heads and is stunned momentarily: Mandalorians. All of them.

Ten, twenty, thirty - every last one from the covert, all come to their rescue and help him take on Karrus’s men. Din joins the fray with them and they battle side by side, just as they’ve done in battles past. Airborne, heavy weaponry, fire; they come at them with everything they’ve got, and it works. The men are no match for this many Mandalorians, and soon they are down to just a few.

But before Karrus can make his escape, Lim reveals herself and walks forward through the battle. Pain in her voice, she screams, "Karrus! Why can you just let me go?”

The exchange draws Din’s attention from the fight and he stops, returning fire as needed. _Panic_. The thought sends a flash of heat surging through his body at the sight of her coming out of hiding. His limbs are lead, he can’t even process what he’s seeing as Karrus turns from where he stands in the ship's loading bay and looks at her pitifully, "Sorry, Lim! I’m a collector! If I can’t have you, no one can!"

As the realization dawns on her, Karrus pulls his blaster once more and fires directly at her. Frozen on the spot, Din watches in horror as she takes the hit square in her gut. Sunsets on Mera, running through grass as children, the sound of her laugh; it all hits him at once as she’s knocked off her feet and onto her back. The back of her head cracks against the duracrete ground, hard. All he can hear is his heaving breath inside the helmet and the blood pounding in his ears. 

Lim!!" he shouts, the sound of his own scream ripping from his throat bringing him back to the present. He gets off a few more shots as Karrus climbs back into the ship as it lifts into the air.

Just as he’s about to give up all hope, one of the Mandalorians on their squad lands nearby with a shout: “I’m on it!”

Before Din can respond, the warrior lowers his scope, leans over, activates a button on his forearm pad, and launches a rocket straight for the ship carrying Karrus and the last of his men. He holds his breath until the weapon strikes true, detonating on impact and destroying the ship in a fireball. The shockwave nearly knocks him off his feet.

Karrus is dead.

Coming to with a gasp, Lim’s eyes fly open. He hears her and spins: She’s alive. His legs nearly give out in relief at the sight of her sputtering on the ground, trying to get the air back into her lungs. He runs to her, runs like his life depends on it. Like his future depends on it. Mandalorians across the field take out the last of Karrus’ men as he runs. The battle has been won, and all that’s left is to survey their losses. Which gives them pause.

The Mandalorians all shift their focus to the drama on the ground, where Din has dropped to his knees beside her and cradles her in his arms. Coppery and dark, her blood covers them both. The scent, his nerves; it all turns his stomach. When he speaks, his voice shakes.

“Lim, are you alright?"

Gasping, she reaches for the wound, finds the blood and stops. "Yes," she chokes, the word taking her breath away with the pain it causes her to fill her lungs.

The crowd around them has closed in and watches solemnly. She looks at the warriors that surround them, and the smoking wreckage of the ship beyond them. “He’s gone? It’s over??” she asks, her voice tight from pain.

Din nods. Her smile is pained. But it registers: it is over. They’ve won.

“Oya!! Oya!!” the Mando’a cheer rises from the army, over and over. She moves to stand and Din helps her wobble to her feet.

He’s overcome with relief, and addresses his tribe. “Thank you all. Your bravery and strength have won the day. You’ve given Lim her life back. I am eternally grateful for your help.”

The gratitude is quickly crowded out by fear when Lim staggers from his grip; she is truly hurt. A Mandalorian in blue and gray armor rushes to her side to catch her before she falls. Din jumps in to help, and another speaks. “She needs a medic. We will take her back to the covert, where our Healer will mend her wounds.”

Din is shocked to silence: a non-Mandalorian, in the covert? He looks to his brothers and sisters in arms, yet they seem to be waiting for him. If this is some kind of test he’s meant to pass, the panic he feels vibrating in every cell doesn’t care.

“If the tribe will allow it-“ he blurts uncertainly.

The speaker nods, “By virtue of her role in this battle, she has earned a place among our ranks. Bravery of this nature transcends tribe lines. This is the way.”

The rest of the tribe replies in unison: “This is the way.”

Their acceptance and support means a great deal, he knows this. But he’s unable to feel anything other than white-hot fear. With their blessing, he gathers her up in his arms and carries her back into town and through the twisting alleys to the covert. He moves through its halls with the rest of his tribe in his wake, a warrior’s solemn victory parade, their wounded kinsman at the helm.

The Healer appears and guides the two of them to the covert’s makeshift medbay, where Din lays her gently onto the stretcher that waits there. The rest of the tribe quietly goes back to their daily lives, and he’s left feeling lost and alone as the Healer prepares their work, Lim laying nearly lifeless before him. She looks so small and fragile, he thinks.

“The healing will take time,” the medic says, bowing their head to Din. “I assure you, we will do everything in our power to mend her wounds.”

His voice is shaking. “May I stay with her?”

The response is not what he wants to hear, but what he expects. “The process takes time and space. I will fetch you when it is complete.”

He nods. Before he leaves, he kneels at her side and whispers her name. After a few moments, her eyes crack open and she finds him. “Din…” she croaks out, unable to breathe deeply.

He nods, “The Healer is going to tend to your wounds now. I’ll be right outside.” He hates how helpless he feels. The thought strikes him and makes his heart swell, despite the pain it’s in: “When you wake up, we’ll have all the time in the galaxy.”

There is no response. She’s unconscious again. Briefly, he feels untethered; lost at the sight of her like this. He stands and leaves, unable to speak or think straight. The quicker he leaves, the sooner the Healer can do their job, he tells himself. Now he just has to wait, and pray.

The hours pass like years, with nothing to occupy his mind but terrible thoughts of losing Lim just as she had come back into his life. He would allow nothing to harm her again, he thinks, if she makes it through this. As soon as the thought crosses his mind, he scolds himself - _when_ , not if. She _will_ survive this. She has to.

When the Healer steps out of the doorway to the medbay, his heart nearly stops. He can’t help his panic. “Is she alright?” he asks as he strides towards them.

They nod. “She is resting. Her wound was deep, but we were able to heal it. She will need rest. You may bring her back to your sleeping quarters now.”

He doesn’t know how to show his gratitude; he’s nearly bursting with it.

“Thank you. Thank you, with my whole being,” he replies.

They simply nod and step aside, letting him pass through the doorway.

When he sees her, he winces. The color has returned to her face, but she’s still asleep. He never wants to see her like this again. Crouching by her side, he lifts her once more and carries her through the covert and back to his quarters.

Once he lays her down, he’s reminded of the first time he did this, after the ambush on Bandua. It feels like ages ago. But what he would have done for her then, he would do ten times over now. A hundred times.

When he looks at her, he sees all the promise the future used to hold for him as a child. He wonders if she knew how he felt back then, when they would race each other up the hills of their home planet and he would always let her win. Whether she knew then or not, he’s determined to let her know how he feels now. He kneels beside her and speaks as quietly as he can with the helmet between them.

“When we were kids, I used to make up reasons to come over to your house,” he begins. Reaching for her hand, he tears his gloves off and tosses them to the floor so he can feel her hand in his. It’s warm and solid; a reassuring anchor that keeps him from drifting away.

“I loved the way you always let me cut ahead of you in line at school lunch, and how you laughed when I bit into a starfruit and made a funny face.” 

She hums, her eyes still closed. He’s about to continue, when he’s struck by the need to tear his helmet off. With shaking hands, he yanks it up and off, and finally he’s face to face with her again, as close as he’s ever been, and it’s dizzying. Making the choice wasn’t as difficult as he’d expected it to be; removing the helmet feels like the next logical thing to do, to be as close as he can to her. Now that it’s off, he never wants to see her through that visor again.

She stirs when the beskar thuds to the ground, her eyelids fluttering. The words start flowing, and he feels lighter with every sentence. “I used to have this dream where we would get married, at the top of the lone mountain on the Luminous Plains of Mera,” he says with a light laugh. Every freckle on her face brings him greater joy. “I know, a silly dream for a silly child; I didn’t even know what being married meant, only that we’d be together forever. That was all I wanted, to be with you.”

At this, she opens her eyes with a deep sigh, coming back to reality. The sound of her breath warms his heart. He watches as the realization washes over her, from serenity to panic as her hands fly to his face, “Din, your helmet-“ she says, screwing her eyes shut and turning away.

He laughs and covers her hands with his, “It’s fine, Lim. It’s fine.”

She opens her eyes slowly and takes him in, for the first time, slowly and with awe. Time could stop right now and he would be content. Moving over the curves and hollows of his face, her fingers take in every detail and her gaze follows. His smile grows with hers, until his eyes fill with tears. It makes her frown.

“Din, I’m sorry… you shouldn’t do this if you don’t want-“ she begins.

How can he even begin to explain it to her, he wonders. With a shake of his head, he takes the opportunity to trace a gentle line across her cheek with his bare, shaking fingertips. Her skin is so soft, like nothing he’s ever touched before. Why did he not take his gloves off and touch her like this before? Foolish man, he thinks.

“It’s not that,” he reassures her. “I want this. All I give up by taking it off - it’s nothing compared to what I gain.”

Her eyes flash at his words. Seeing it with his own eyes, unobstructed by the helmet, thrills him. He can feel the warmth of her breath against his cheek. She threads her fingers through the hair at the scruff of his neck. At her touch, a flush of heat rolls through his body and settles in his core. Skin on skin contact is a luxury he never knew he needed, and now that he’s experienced it, he never wants to be without. His flight suit grows uncomfortably tight between his legs.

He likes it.

“And what do you gain?” she asks, her voice a dare.

His breath comes fast now, as he realizes what’s about to happen. Lips - that’s all he can focus on, is her lips. Before he can think, his body acts and his lips are on hers, finally, deliciously, and completely.

It’s like tasting heaven, he thinks; if fingertips on skin was exhilarating, this is like flying as high as he could go within atmosphere and seeing the stars before plummeting back down towards the ground, and pulling up at the very last moment. His heart pounds against the beskar. All he can hear is her sigh as she wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him in return, down and deep. It’s the purest pleasure he’s ever felt. Her hum against his lips sends him reeling. How could he ever hide under that helmet again when he could have this whenever he wanted?

She pulls away softly, eyes shining with joyful tears. Not even in his childhood fantasies did she ever look this beautiful to him.

“How long would it take us to get to Mera from here?” Her question hangs in the air between them, long enough for him to realize what she means by asking it.

His smile starts deep down in his belly; so deep that he has to suppress the urge to whoop with joy as it spreads. Mera is a few days travel away, but he’s not concerned about that. He brushes a tear from her cheek with his thumb and places a soft kiss against her lips then gives her the response he’s been waiting to give her all day:

“We have all the time in the galaxy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading this super fluffy delight! I've been thinking about continuing their story, or possibly doing another Mando x female character story with some more smut (because that kind of stuff makes my dirty little heart so happy), and would love your feedback. Let me know how you liked my ending, and what you want to see next in the comments!


End file.
